Photocopying-machine.



PATBNTED MAY 19, 1903.

P. LATTA. PHOTOGOPYING MACHINE. APPLIOLTION FILED JULY 11, 1901 2SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H0 MODEL.

mi NORRIS PETERS co. PHm'oM'mo" wumunrqu. n c.

Patented May 19, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL LATTA, OF' BERLIN, GERMANY.

PHOTOCOPYlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 728,730, dated May 19,1903.

Application filed July 11, 1901.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PAUL LATTA, photographer, a subject of the King ofPrussia, German Emperor, residing at Kottbuserdamm 6, in the city ofBerlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, have inyented a certain newand useful Improvement in Photocopying- Machines, of which the followingis a specification, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has reference to a device for exposing a sensitized plateor film to the action of light, and it is especially intended for use inthe manufacture of the so-called mile photographs or kilometerphotographs, where a long band or sheet of paper is used for producingthe copies, though the device is equally adaptable to the manufac-' tureof other kinds of photographic copies. The rotary machines usedheretofore for the manufacture of such long-sheet photographs have beenfound in practical working to show various inconveniences whichseriously interfered with their use. Copies printed by means of suchmachines were either lacking in distinctness or the ground was notsufficiently clear, and the machines were also liable to get out oforder and could only be adjusted and put in condition for working withdifficulty. Of the original negative pictures diapositives had to beprinted, and of these other negatives were taken, which were then fixedto the exposing-roller. All these inconveniences are avoided in mymachine, where a flat copying-frame is made use of, the sensitized bandor ribbon being intermittently fed and the light being also permitted toact intermittently. Ordinarynegativeplatesmay be directly used, whichhas the further advantage that the photographic picture obtained in thismanner retains all the nice features of the original, which aregenerally lost or at least greatly weakened in the printing processwhere a rotary machine is used. In my machine that part of thesensitized band of paper on which the light is to act is fed for adistance equal to the breadth of the frame. During this time theelectric light is cut out and the frame has to be opened. After theposition of the new and still unex-- Serial No. 67,886. (No model.)

posed part of the paper has been properly adjusted in the frame thecover of the frame is closed and pressed down tightly, whereupon theexposure to the light takes place. It is evident that the machine willbe governed in the rapidity and the exactness of its operation by therapidity with which the change of position of the operating parts takesplace, assuming the time required for exposure and the strength andresistence of the paper to be always constant. The yield with thesekinds of machines will increase and the quality of the products obtainedwill be enhanced in proportion as the operation of the machine becomesquiet and uniform and the time of exposure accurately regulated.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a machine embodying myinvention, Figure 1 being a front and Fig. 2 a side view thereof. I

The copying-frame itself is of wel-known construction. The glass plateb, to which the negative is attached, is mounted in the lower part ofthe frame a, resting upon suitable supports. 0 is the frame-cover, uponwhich the elastic plates cl 6 are mounted. This cover is verticallydisplaceable and is attached to the bar g, connected to the crank t ofthe shaft k by means of the link h. Boltsffare attached to the lowerframe and serve as vertical guides for the coverc. A slot in the saidlink h serves for the reception of the crank-pin of the part i, whichcauses the action of the shaft upon the cover 0 of the exposing-frame tobecome intermittent. During that part of the rotation of the shaft wherethe exposing device is not in operation the cover 0 is kept tightlypressed upon the glass plate in the copying-frame by the action of thespiral springs Z, surrounding the bolts ff, and while the cover, withits elastic plates cl e, is in its depressed position the exposure tothe light takes place. In the preferred form of construction shown inthe drawings the light is thrown from below by means of electric lampsm, which are fed by the current from the conductor it, connected tothe'trough-shaped contact-piece 0. The electric current is transmittedto the lamps in any well-known manner. It may, for instance, beconnected to a terminal q upon the fly-wheel p of the driving-shaft k. Asmall roller 0" is suitably fastened to the contactpiece q and is guidedalong the curved contact-piece 0. I may also make the contactpiece 0 intwo sections, the two parts being connected by the conductor q, while asuitable non conductor arranged lengthwise serves for the insulation ofthe contact-piece 0, the current being admitted to one of the sectionsand leaving the contact-piece by the other section. The operator is atliberty to close the current by the aid of this device for only as longas it is needed. The duration of lighting or exposure is controlled bythe length of the curved contact-piece 0 and by the speed of rotation ofthe fly-wheel 29. Thus the opening of the frame, the feeding of thesensitized paper, and the reclosing of the frame will have to beeffected during the time which after deduction of the time for exposureis left for a full revolution of the fly wheel. The time for exposuremay therefore be shortened or may be prolonged by increasing orretarding the movement of the driving mechanism. It is, however,preferable to make the curved contact-piece 0 of a series of sections,as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, instead of having it consist of onepiece only, with a view of eliminating the effects of variations ofspeed of the driving mechanism, for inasmuch as the time for opening,advancing the paper, and reclosing the lighting-frame will be shortenedin proportion it is necessary to take this into consideration in theconstruction of the machine and figure on an excess of times for theseoperations in order to be sure to have sufficient time at disposal foropening, feeding the paper, and closing the frame under anycircumstances even by cutting down the time for exposure and Withoutinjuring the band or ribbon of paper. This difficulty is solved bymaking the contact 0 in sections, and in this formv of construction ofmy improved lighting-machine the fiy-wheel 1) may be given a very smalldiameter, which when the sections of the contact 0 are all in place andthe wheel is turning at its normal speed will just suffice to leavesufficient time between the closing and interruption of the current tocarry on the operations of opening, feeding the paper, and reclosing theframe without any injury to the sensitive paper. If it is desired toshorten the time of exposure, it is only necessary to remove so many ofthe sections of the curved contact 0 that the time of exposure willcorrespond to the production of a properly-lighted picture.Thesectionswhich have been removed are then inserted again if it isdesired to increase the duration of exposure. In the form ofconstruction shown by way of example the contactpiece 0 is made up ofthirty sections of that kind. Assuming that the time of exposure undercertain circumstances will last two seconds, it is possible to vary thetime of exposure for tenths of a second, beginning with one-tenth of asecond. I am thus enabled to control the time of lighting or of exposurewith exactness and accuracy, which has been impossible heretoforewithout interfering with the run of the machine.

Instead of interrupting the current for the lampsintermittently thisperiodicalinterruption may also be effected by providing the lamps witha movable soreen,which while the lamps are burning is placedperiodically in front of the lamps.

The mode of operation of the novel and improved lighting-machine is asfollows: It is assumed that the fly-wheel is rotating in the directionindicated by the arrow shown in the drawings. The exposure frame hasbeen opened and the sensitive .paper has been introduced into thecopying-frame. Any suitable device is used to advance the paperfor theamount of its length that has been already exposed; butl prefer thatshown,wherein a sector-gear 10, carried by the main shaft 2', bringsabout an intermittent rotation of the receiving-roll 11 by coming incontact with the gear-wheel 12, carried by the shaft 13, which is alsoprovided with a gear-wheel 14, meshing with a wheel 15, carried by thereceivingroll 11, on which the exposed sheet is wound up, being drawnoff from the feed-roll 16 by such intermittent rotation of suchreceivingroll 11. As soon as the rotating contact-piece '1' has left thecurved contact-piece o the lamps m are extinguished, while the fiy-wheelIt continues to rotate with uniform speed. While the rotatingcontact-piece r is moving from the right side of the curved contactpiece0 to the left side of the same the crank portion of the shaft at t' isalso rotated, thereby raising the cover-plates c d e of theexposing-frame until the crank pin of the crank portion of the shaft hasreached its highest position, which will cause the springs Z to becomedistended, which press against the cover 0. After the highest part ofits stroke has been reached the crank portion will descend, in whichposition it will cease to force the covers 0 d c downward; but in viewof a slot being provided at the extremity of the link 72, Fig. 2, thecover is descending slowly by the tension of the springs Z, which pushthe cover-plates c d 9 against the paper 5, the paper being forced inturn against the glass plate Z), provided with the negatives, when thecrank portion of the shaft has assumed the position corresponding to theposition of the contact-piece 0', which, having reached the left side ofthe curved contact 0 during the rotation of the fly-wheel p, is justabout to touch the curved contact 0. The sensitized paper 3 hasmeanwhile been fed through the copying-frame for a distancecorresponding to the part which has just been lighted, and when theparts have assumed the position above indicated the movement of thepaper is interrupted. The fly-wheel 13 now continues its movement, whichcauses the contact-piece r to touch the curved contact 0 and to lightthe lamps in consequence, which now continue to burn as long as thecontact-roller r is moving along the curved contact 0. During this timethe crank portion i has of course also continued its rotation, butwithout operating the cover of the exposing or lighting frame, inasmuchas the crank-pin is descending within the slotted part of the link h,Fig. 2,withoutperforminganyaction. Thecrank pin then rises within theslot in the same manner without operating the other parts,this movementbeing effected gradually. From this it appears that the springs Z willserve to keep the copying-frame closed during the time of exposure onlywhen the contact-piece 9' has again reached the right-hand extremity ofthe curved contact-piece 0 and is leaving the same. The crank portion t'has been sufficiently rotated to bring the crank-pin in position totouch the upper extremity of the slotted part h, in which position itwill operate to raise the covering-plates c d 6. At this very moment thefeeding mechanism for the paper band is operated, While the electriclight has been extinguished by the interruption of the current.

It is obvious that I may replace the curved or arc-like contact bycontacts of any other shape, which, however, must be so arranged thatthey make contact with the rotating contact-piece r for some part oftheir length for a time corresponding to the desired duration ofexposure.

I Wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the particularform of construction of the contact-pieces 0 and q, nor is my inventionlimited to the employment of a rotating contact-piece q and to a curvedarc-shaped contact 0,made up of several small sections, inasmuch as itis obvious that the latter contact may also be made straight, in whichcase the contact (1 is given a reciprocating movement. Instead of havingone of the con tact-pieces consist of several small sections or plates,by the removal or insertion of some of which the contacting surface maybe shortened or lengthened in the direction of the movement of the othercontact-piece q to suit circumstances, the contacting-piece 0 may alsobe made up of two parts displaceable along each other.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device for reproducing photographs,

the combination with mechanism for intermittently feeding a sheet orbandof sensitized photographic paper, of a frame for holding the negative ornegatives located below the path of the sensitized sheet, an electriclight or lights below the negative or negatives, a platen above the pathof the sensitized sheet, mechanism for forcing the platen toward thesensitized sheet, so as to'press the same against the negative ornegatives and mechanism for automatically lighting the electric lamp orlamps while the negative is in contact with,

such sheet and for shutting ed the lamp-current while the paper is inmotion, comprising a sliding contact-arc composed of a plurality ofremovable sections, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a photographic machine the combination with means forintermittently feeding a roll of sensitized paper by the negative-frame,of an electric light or lights, a contact-piece formed of a plurality ofremovable sections whereby the time and period of the closing of thecircuit may be varied, included in the lamp-circuit, and a movablecontact-piece by which the circuit is closed and the lamps are lightedduring the time that such contactpiece is in contact with the sectionalcontactpiece, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a photographic machine, the combination with means forintermittently feeding a roll of sensitized paper by the negative-frame,of an electric light or lights included in a normally broken circuit ofconductors, a stationary contact-piece, composed of a plurality ofremovable sections by which the period and time of the closing of thecircuit may be varied, a frame inclosing the light or lights, a coverfor the frame, a crank-shaft, a slotted link forming a connectionbetween the crankshaft and the cover, and a rotating contactpiecerotated by the crank-shaft adapted to intermittently close the circuitby contacting with the stationary contact-piece so as to light the lampor lamps during the time that the cover is lowered, substantially asshown and described.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twoWitnesses.

PAUL LATTA.

Witnesses:

HENRY HASPER, WOLDEMAR HAUPT.

